I can’t believe that it has been more than half a year since we have been dealing with Covid. That said, the days still feel mostly normal. We are being careful, but we also have done some socializing in the last few weeks.

We invited our neighbors, Chloe and Marcus, over for dinner. This was long over-due, as they are our direct neighbors and we have been to their backyard for a few parties. We actually share a fence with them and when we installed our fence, we placed a gate between our backyards, which has been great. They have a gate with our other neighbors, so we can all easily socialize between our yards. It was wonderful to really get to know Marcus and Chloe. We hit the neighbor jackpot by moving to Sterling Ranch.

The next morning, I was quite hung-over, but I crawled out of bed to go with a bunch of women in the neighborhood for a Sunday brunch at Cafe Terracotta in downtown Littleton. This was so much fun. I met new people and had a delicious veggie omelette. Dan had gone golfing with several of the guys in the neighborhood on the previous Friday, so this was the women getting their time out of the house. I couldn’t have imagined that I would have been able to do this during Covid, but our strict state measures have made it feel somewhat safe ( not completely risk free, of course) to have small gatherings and dine out. I appreciate this normalcy, especially as I see that my home state of California is still struggling.

That same day, we were expecting our friends Valerie and Bryan from California for a three-night stay at our house. I had taken Friday off to clean the house and by the time Sunday rolled around, I was frantically doing last minute prep. Since this is Colorado, they got stuck in a snow storm near the ski resorts and didn’t arrive until dinner time. With the house clean, we looked for a “new-to-us” coffee place near our house for a much needed latte break. We discovered Lost Coffee in nearby Castle Rock. It was the perfect fall afternoon treat.

Here I am, waiting for Valerie and Bryan to give us an update. I was a zombie at this point. I can’t remember the last time that I did so much cleaning, so much drinking, or so much socializing.

Valerie and Bryan were here to help their daughter Stephanie move from California to Colorado to live with her boyfriend. They crashed at our house with their dog, Shely. Shely and our cats had a few encounters, but everyone stayed safe. We kept to our work routine, but had dinners together in the evenings, including two meals out- sushi and Italian. On the final night of their trip, they cooked a delicious mac and cheese with the cheese coming from a special creamery in Utah.

We had mentioned wanting to decorate for the fall season with bales of hay. Bryan and Val surprised us with two bales of hay, some decorative dried corn stalks, and a pair of perfect winter gloves for me. It was such a surprise and so nice of them! We have added a few more bales of hay, but we still trying to figure out our fall decor scheme. Here’s a picture of our hay and of the cows in the nearby field.

Tom is cow watching.

And a pretty picture that Dan took of the new houses going up in our neighborhood. The houses are built so quickly that the neighborhood is constantly changing.

We were Boozed! This is a game that has been going around our neighborhood, where you secretly drop a bucket of alcohol on your neighbor’s doorstep and they pay-it-forward. We are 99.9% certain who Boozed us and they created a perfect bucket, with my favorite Swedish cider and even toys for the cats. It was very thoughtful and fun.

I proudly voted for Biden and Harris! Colorado makes voting a breeze with ballots sent by mail and a secure drop box in my neighborhood. I actually noticed a second drop box not more than a few miles from my house. It boggles my mind that some states make it so difficult for people to vote and I’m grateful to live in a state that makes the process simple. Now, I anxiously await the arrival of November 3rd and what follows. I have a terrible feeling that no matter which way the election goes, there will be violence. 2020 has not been easy.

To end on a happy note, here is a cute picture of Tom. Slinky continues to do well, but I haven’t captured any pictures of him in the last few weeks. As you can see, Tom has decided that a wine cork is the best toy. You know he likes a toy when he gives it a wash in his water bowl.

I cannot believe that it has been two months. Oddly enough, this week things seemed to be a bit more normal. Yesterday, Dan had a dermatologist appointment that was made months ago, before the everything closed and the office didn’t cancel it. I went with him, although I stayed in the car during his appointment.

Afterwards, we went to American Furniture Warehouse to pick out new garden furniture. The store is massive, like a Costco for furniture and they were rigid with social distancing/safety protocols. We had our masks on, as did everyone else and I felt safe shopping. They gave us branded bottled water and we spotted the owner (tiger guy) walking around the store. It wasn’t very busy, more staff than customers.

In the evening, we went to a local bike shop (Pedal in Littleton) and Dan bought us two new bikes. Again, safety protocols were in place and we didn’t even enter the store. The employees brought everything out to the parking lot. It was a bit strange, since we couldn’t browse through the bikes, but also maybe it was better, since the employee gave us customized service based on our needs. I was able to test ride the bikes too. I’ve never been a fan of bicycling, so I was reluctant, but Dan’s enthusiasm has made me excited to give this new form of exercise a chance. My bike is beautiful and so easy to ride. We are waiting for Dan’s bike to be built, so when we have both of them, I will post pictures. We should have them both by this weekend.

Yesterday felt normal, because people were out doing things, getting back to life. The streets were busier and as we drove past businesses, parking lots were full. I estimate that 95% of the people we saw were following social distancing guidelines and wearing masks. This filled me with hope. That said, we also had local news reports of restaurants deciding to defy orders and serve indoors for Mother’s Day. The news reports were shocking, as these restaurants were completely full with no distancing and masks. I can empathize with business owners who need the business, but this is not okay. Ultimately, I think the actions of the few who decided to be defiant will slow down the overall progress of reopening, plus could even kill people. It’s horrible.

On a lighter note, this week continued to be personally productive and had several highlights.

Our garden is nearly done! It looks amazing and by next week, I should be able to share the completed project with our new furniture. Dan was really excited about the mini digger parked outside of our house. Here are pictures of the progress.

A little less with the kitchen experiments this week. Dan made crepes and I made a curry.

On Saturday morning, I took a three hour zoom grammar course through the Gotham Writer’s Workshop. My grammar skills are decent, but I definitely learned a lot during this intensive class. It was worth taking. The second half of the course is this coming Saturda and I was given homework.

I entered the NYC Midnight Microfiction Challenge. At midnight (eastern standard time) on Friday, I was given my information for the first heat. There are three heats over the next three months. I had twenty-four hours to write a 100 word story that must be in the comedy genre, must involve the action of “lighting a fire,” and must include the word “sleep.” At first, I was daunted by the parameters that I was randomly assigned. It took some playing around with ideas to land on the right one. I ended up very pleased with my entry. It’s a little niche, but hopefully the judges will like it. The concept made Dan laugh and that was priceless. If I advance to the next round, I will share my first entry.

Last night, I attended my first “Virtual Book Signing.” It was hosted by our local book chain, Tattered Cover and was to promote Mikel Jollett’s memoir, Hollywood Park. I’m a huge fan of Jollett, the frontman of The Airborne Toxic Event. Truth be told, he’s a celebrity crush of mine. I love his song writing and his voice. I’ve been to many Airborne concerts and his music is the epitome of Los Angeles. I had been very excited to attend this event live, but virtual was the next best thing. Jollett spoke and sang for about ninety minutes and then took questions. He was raw, emotional, and gracious. I loved hearing him read from his memoir. He made me cry and I felt homesick for Los Angeles. Just really beautiful stuff. I also get an autographed copy of Hollywood Park, which will be mailed in a few weeks.

Tonight is the season finale of Survivor: Winners at War. This has been an epic season and Dan has even been watching it with me from the beginning. This is his first season of Survivor. We discovered that our neighbors are also big fans and we watched the season premiere at their house. Unfortunately, we have not been able to watch the other episodes with them, but mid-season, we did decide to make a friendly wager. We each picked four players and the person with the last player standing gets to choose a cocktail, which the first person out will make. So far, we all have a player still in the game and the hope of one of our players returning from The Edge of Extinction. I have Tony left in the game and Pavarti/Yul/Sophie on the edge. She wasn’t my pick, but I think Natalie has the best shot at making it back from Extinction. She was the first vote out, but she has been phenomenal on the edge.

We will be watching live tonight for the three hour finale! Dan had these mugs made and we gave a pair to our neighbors.

Cows visited our neighborhood several times this week. I could hear them mooing from inside of our house. I love it! They were hang out in a giant field at the end of our street and I went to visit them at sunset.

And of course some cute cat pictures.

The one where Slinky is eating and Tom is looking at the camera was a funny moment. Slinky is old and skinny, so we have been giving him extra food. Tom gobbled up his small portion and was feeling sorry for himself, because Slinky was still eating. He even tried “petting” Slinky gently on the head, but Slinky was not about to share!